The assistant teachers of the government primary schools on Monday began a countrywide one-hour work abstention, demanding salary hike and promotion.
The protesting teachers, under the banner of 鈥楶rimary Assistant Teachers Association Unity Council鈥�, said that their one-hour work abstention would continue till May 15, and if the authorities failed to respond, they would resume their strike from May 16 with longer hours of work abstention.
Their demands are鈥攆ixing assistant teacher position as entry level position to all government primary schools; upgrading assistant teachers鈥� salary to the 11th grade; removing the existing barriers to achieving higher grade for the teachers who are 10 years and 16 years into the job; making provision that all head teachers will be appointed from the pool of assistant teachers through promotion; and making provision for quicker promotion.
Council president Md Anisur Rahman said that they would observe the one-hour work abstention during the classes till May 15.
鈥業f our demands go unheeded, we will gradually extend the time of work abstention,鈥� he said.
According to their plan, between May 16 and 20 they would go for two-hour work abstention, between May 21 and 25 they would stage half day work abstention, and if the government still remained unconcerned, the assistant teachers would go for whole day strike, he continued.
Anisur Rahman alleged that since 2019 due to bureaucratic red tape their promotion remained halted, which they were supposed to get after 10 years and 16 years into the job, according to the service rules governing the primary schoolteachers.聽
Currently, the government appointed 35 per cent primary school head teachers through the Bangladesh Public Service Commission, while the rest 65 per cent positions were filled up by promoting assistant teachers, Anisur Rahman explained.
鈥楤ut we demand 100 per cent positions of head teachers to be filled by promoting assistant teachers,鈥� he added.
Most recently, the interim government on September 30 last year formed a nine-member consultation committee on quality improvement of primary and non-formal education, tasking it with giving recommendations on quality improvement.聽聽聽
The committee submitted its report to chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on February 10, recommending upgrading the entry level salary of the primary assistant teachers to 12th grade from current 13th grade. It also recommended an upgrade of the head teachers鈥� salaries to 10th grade from current 11th grade.
Currently, primary school assistant teachers start job at 13th grade, while the head teachers get paid as per 11th grade.
According to the Annual Primary School Census 2023, the latest one, the number of government primary schools is 65,567, and the number of assistant teachers in these schools is 3,19,625.
